Tag: DUI Defense

Rolled to NFG

Wayne County, Iowa.  Attorney Matt Lindholm (aka The Wolf) recently obtained a NFG (Not Friggin Guilty) verdict from a Wayne County jury for a client facing an OWI second offense charge.  The client was charged following a roll over accident.  At trial officers testified that the client’s speech was slurred, he had blood shot eyes, failed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, and refused to submit to a breath test.  Video was shown to the jury depicting the client’s speech, his eyes, and the circumstances surrounding his refusal to submit to a breath test (i.e. because he was unable to speak […]

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Felony OWI Amended to Public Intoxication

The impaired driving defense attorneys at GRL get results.  A recent case in Mitchell County demonstrates how effective we can be when the stakes are highest. We recently took over a case from another attorney after the State refused to budge on a felony OWI and trial looked inevitable.  After unpacking it, we discovered several important facts that completely changed the dynamic of the case.  We went to work limiting the State’s evidence.  We requested the DataMaster DMT breath test data and noticed the State’s expert witness to appear on our behalf at trial. The result? On the eve of […]

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Double Violations Results in Dismissal

Sidney, Fremont County, Iowa.  OWI 2nd Offense arising out of an accident, dismissed outright after court granted defendant’s motion to suppress evidence.  GRL dug into the case and determined that the preliminary breath test calibration logs did not comply with Iowa’s requirements.  Additionally, a close review of the video recordings from the police station proved that a separate legal violation occurred by the officer when he refused GRL’s client’s request to call his father prior to making a decision to submit to a breath test at the station.  With the test excluded from evidence the prosecution dismissed the charges and […]

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I Want to Call to Get Bond–Nope!

Ringgold County, Iowa.  A GRL client recently had an OWI charge amended to reckless driving.  The amended charge was the result of Attorney Matt Lindholm finding a way to get the client’s breath test refusal suppressed.  The client requested an opportunity to place a phone call to secure bond for his release prior to deciding whether to consent or refuse the chemical breath test request and the officer denied the request.  This denial violated Iowa Code Section 804.20 and provided a basis for suppression of the resulting breath test refusal which saved the client’s drivers license and secured the amended […]

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The Law–Just Follow the Law

Polk County, Iowa.   A GRL client recently got an Operating While Intoxicated charge dismissed following a ruling by the court throwing out the breath test refusal.  Attorney Matt Lindholm was able to secure the dismissal for the client after showing that the preliminary breath testing device used in the case did not comply with Iowa’s calibration requirements.  In addition to the charge getting dismissed, the client was able to prevent any loss of his driver’s license.

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Request for Confidentiality Results in Reduced Charges

Johnson County, Iowa.   A GRL client recently had his operating while intoxicated charge reduced to public intoxication.  Attorney Matt Lindholm filed a motion to suppress on the client’s behalf arguing that he was never informed about his right to confidential communications following the request for privacy on his phone calls.  Iowa Code Section 804.20 provides that a person can call, consult, and see an attorney, family member, or both following their arrest.  If a person requests a confidential phone call, the officer must inform them about their rights to confidentiality pursuant to this code section and the failure to do […]

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State Amends OWI to Public Intoxication on Eve of Trial

The state recently moved to amend a charge to public intoxication from OWI in a North Iowa case involving a test refusal. Why the amendment?  The drunk driving attorneys at GRL Law were prepared to show that our client, a lifetime smoker, never refused testing.   Instead, the officer deemed her to have refused after a third incomplete DataMaster DMT test.  The multiple incomplete tests were due to our client’s inability to provide an acceptable breath sample meeting all of the test parameters.  Nothing more. The officer could have instead requested that she submit a sample of blood or urine.  Those […]

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CDL Saved After State Amends OWI Charge

The drunk driving lawyers at GRL Law successfully negotiated yet another resolution to preserve a client’s CDL. After winning the DOT and suppression hearings, we leveraged those results by convincing the county attorney to amend the OWI to public intoxication and reckless driving with no jail time. The DOT would have disqualified the client’s CDL had he pleaded guilty as charged even though we prevented the implied consent revocation from taking effect. Our negotiation saved his commercial driving privileges after we won the DOT hearing. A shout out to the prosecutor who was willing to reevaluate the charge in light […]

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Wouldn’t think twice about recommended him to someone else in my situation

Scott Michels was the lawyer that I hired for my case. I appreciated the updates throughout the case, always letting me now what the situation was and how he recommends how it should proceed. Pretty impressed by the way everything was handled with him looking over the videos presented and figuring out the best wag to go forward. Very knowledgeable with cases like mine and wouldn’t think twice about recommended him to someone else in my situation. Even though the case didn’t go exactly my way I am pleased with the amount of effort put in to it.

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